How to Lead a Kid Who’s an Underdog
By: Tim Elmore Even if you’re not a big Kentucky Derby fan, you’ve probably heard what just happened in the last race at Churchill Downs. To say the winner was a long shot is an understatement. A horse named Rich Strike won the derby, a race in which he did not even belong. It all took…
Continue Reading
Do you speak Generation Z’s Language?
By: Tim Elmore It’s been over 50 years since the term generation gap was first coined by Life magazine editor John Poppy. During the 1960s, he noticed a gap between the young baby boomers and their parent’s generation, the Builders. Those boomers used new language the adults did not recognize. I am one of those…
Continue ReadingEleven Challenges All Young Employees Can Grow From
By: Tim Elmore As I spot “Help Wanted” signs on the windows of many establishments today, I often consider the qualities young job seekers should learn. Too often, young adults don’t take entry-level positions because they feel those jobs are beneath them. I recently reflected on the early experiences I had in my…
Continue ReadingOne Social and Emotional Learning Step That Matures Students
By: Tim Elmore “My students enter the classroom as if they’re customers. They expect me to serve them curriculum, make it fun, and work hard to ensure they make good grades. It’s like they’re consumers,” bemoaned one teacher I met in Missouri. Then, she had an epiphany. “I guess they are consumers in…
Continue ReadingCompassion and Consequences: Can We Lead Students with Both?
By: Tim Elmore Last month, a Chicago Metra train conductor was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight. Not long after, photos of the robbery suspect were released, and that’s when the armed thief was apprehended. Even though he was wearing a mask, it all happened so quickly. You’ll never guess how the thief was…
Continue ReadingHow to Teach Social and Emotional Skills Without Being a Therapist
By: Tim Elmore Last month, I asked a group of educators a question, and the answer was revealing. A group of 21 teachers who use our Habitudes for Social and Emotional Learning all said they enjoyed the classroom conversation our images sparked but admitted: “Whenever I teach social and emotional skills, it inevitably brings…
Continue ReadingThe Best Way to View the Pandemic, Two Years Into COVID-19
By: Tim Elmore The name COVID-19 is derived from three words. The first syllable, CO, is taken from corona. The second syllable, VI, is taken from virus. The D is for disease. And the number 19, reminds us that the virus began in 2019 when we first heard about missteps in a lab in China.…
Continue ReadingWelcome to the Land of Tomorrow: Millennials vs. Generation Z at Work
By: Tim Elmore Last October, The New York Times ran an article called “The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them.” It was about how entitled millennials are unable to manage their even more entitled Gen Z workers. The piece was interesting but needed explanation. The stories were anecdotal and didn’t…
Continue ReadingWhy I Remain Optimistic About Generation Z
By: Tim Elmore I just met a young woman on a podcast interview who helped me recapture my hope for the future. Her name is Shamma Al Mazrui, and she is from the United Arab Emirates. Shamma graduated from New York University, Abu Dhabi, as her nation’s first Rhodes Scholar. Shamma was then…
Continue ReadingThe Drift We’ve Witnessed in Education
By: Tim Elmore When I spoke to Mr. Dunn, an English teacher of high school seniors, he told me he had one job: to teach language arts to teenagers. My first response was to agree. He had but one task each day, and he was doing a good job of it. When I reflected…
Continue Reading